My Outdoors

I Brake for AMC: A Car-centric History of AMC Membership Swag

AMC members’ long history of auto adornment began with midcentury metal placards. PHOTO: MARC CHALUFOUR

A frame from the 1959 film “Mountain Holiday” shows an AMC auto placard in place. PHOTO: AMC LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

The Volkswagen on the right, parked in Franconia Notch in 1963, also displays the AMC logo. PHOTO: AMC LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

Since 1964, AMC supporters have received a window decal as part of their membership. PHOTO: MARC CHALUFOUR

Members have sometimes received an AMC water bottle, as well. PHOTO: MARC CHALUFOUR

The AMC Library & Archives collection includes a colorful array of membership cards, spanning much of the 20th century. PHOTO: MARC CHALUFOUR

Thanks to hats, shirts, fleece tops, water bottles, patches, pins, and more all bearing the organization’s logo, AMC members wear their club pride on their sleeves. But you’ll never see one of the most iconic pieces of AMC swag on the trail: car window decals.

In the mid-1900s, AMC provided metal insignias that members could bolt to their cars. Though popular, these placards proved difficult to fasten to modern vehicles, so in 1964 the club placed its first order of window decals and sent them out with membership renewal notices. The white-and-green stickers remain a fixture in trailhead parking lots to this day.